The 1-2 Cardinals have been plagued by slow starts so far this season.
In the Week One loss to Kansas City, three of Arizona’s first four drives ended in punts while the Chiefs built an early lead. The offense went three-and-out on its first and third drive.
Though the Cardinals won in Week Two, they were down 20-0 at halftime, with their first-half drives ending punt, punt, interception.
Then in Week Three, Arizona’s first four possessions ended in punts, going three-and-out three times.
On Monday, Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury said, “I wish I had an answer” when asked about issues with the script that may be leading to those slow starts.
“That’s something we’ve got to figure out,” Kingsbury said in his press conference. “It’s been slow starts in all three phases this week, unfortunately, but that’s got to be an emphasis to get started faster on offense, get in a groove and get moving so we can get into some of our tempo stuff. Coaches and players, we’ve got to figure that out this week.”
Kingsbury said he’s thought about changing the structure of the practice week and practice itself to get off to better starts. But added, “At some point, it just has to click for us.”
“I don’t think there’s any magic answers except guys showing up, being ready to go, and not regressing back to that once we get it figured out,” Kingsbury said.
Kingsbury said some of the issues may stem from players trying too hard instead of taking one play at a time. But he knows the team has to start faster because playing from behind all the tie is not sustainable.
“It’s hard when you’re chasing offensively and defensively like we’ve been,” Kingsbury said. “We’ve just trying to crawl back into it. You’re not calling the game on your terms. You’re trying to catch up. That’s not an easy place to be and that’s where we’ve been, so we want to be able to execute the game plans that we have in for a certain reason and a certain purpose the way we want. That’s something we’ve got to be able to do Sunday.”
